Anacostia: 1919

I work in the DC Historic Preservation Office and can confirm that J_Shonder is correct. Kudos. The row is more specifically 1915-1927 16th Street SE. The house in the background is 1448 Minnesota Ave SE. The permit for the rowhouses was #4769 issued 6/21/1919 (architect: J.H. Hoffmann, builder: Anacostia Improvement Company). Permit for the the house was #1275 issued 9/16/1915.

Replacing wood porch components (floors, steps, columns) with brick, concrete and iron components is a very typical alteration for this type of rowhouse in DC. Alteration typically was 30-40 years after construction. It's more rare to find an intact wood porch. Other details of the row--brick coursing, roof eaves, dormer location/size, party walls projecting above the roof line--all match the historic photo.

But concluded that the homeowners upgraded their porches. The wood was replaced with concrete floors, concrete steps and (except for one) brick columns. Notice the lack of uniformity. I lived in a 1927 home in NW DC that was built with a porch in the style of the one on the left. (All in our neighborhood were the same.) I wonder if savvy contractors convinced them to upgrade to the "new style."

I imagine different lenses can account for the perceived difference in the distance of the background house.

I don't think this is the same set of houses in the original photo. That house on Minnesota is too far away, and these houses have brick columns for the porches. The originals had wooden columns. I think there was another set of houses that are no longer there.

The larger house in the background on the right is still there too, but it's farther away than it looks: at 1448 Minnesota Av. And it's in great condition too.

Those look in better shape than I would have expected them to be in 90+ years later!

1926 16th Street Southeast, Washington, DC. That was fun, got a nice tour of Anacostia. Always see it listed on the Metro map, have never been there.